Presence management system

ABSTRACT

A presence management system is described whereby connections between watching parties and watched parties in a multiple access communications network are managed. When the presence management system receives a contact request from a watching party it determines whether the required watched party is available for contact. The system then provides information about this to the watching party who made the request. The presence management system chooses the best mode of communication (e.g. email or fax) taking into account the watched parties preferences and details about the facilities available to the watching party. If, the presence management system informs the watching party that the watched party is unavailable, the watching party is able to set up a monitor. In determining whether the required watched party is available for contact, the presence management system uses stored information about the watched party, information about the required connection (e.g. size and type) and also rules. In addition, information about events from the multiple access network are used e.g. geographical location of watched party mobile phones. Advantageously, watched parties or watching parties are services. For example, a watching party is a conference call service which monitors watched parties and sets up a conference call when the watched parties are available. A watched party may also be a service, such as a ticket agency. Watching parties can set up monitors using the presence management system to be alerted when new tickets are available from the agency.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a presence management system for use in amultiple access communications network, and in particular, but notlimited to, a presence management system for use by watched parties andwatching parties wherein at least one of said parties is a service.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Telecommunication users of today are faced with ever increasing choiceover how they communicate. A typical user has several different kinds ofcommunications terminal such as mobile telephones, fax machines,personal computers, lap-top computers. Also a typical user also oftenhas more that one of a given type of communications terminal, forexample, more than on E-mail account, or home and work telephonenumbers. This produces complexity and confusion both for senders andreceivers of communications.

Receivers of communications have to work hard to field all incomingcommunications and such users often find that interruptions from alerts,such as telephone calls and instant messages, are intrusive.

Typically, receivers of communications have little control over whatcommunications are received, at which times, and in which modes. In faceto face communications, humans are able to control the degree ofinteraction which they allow with particular people or groups. However,with today's communication networks the degree and resolution of thecontrol of electronically mediated communications is much less. Forexample, telephone numbers are often fully public (in a directory) andare typically issued on demand to others who explicitly ask and know thefull address. Also, a telephone number, once released to others, hascontinuing validity unless the telephone number is changed at greatinconvenience and expense. Similar problems apply for email addresses.This means that it is easy for others, such as salesmen or nuisancecallers to contact you more times than desired. In order to prevent thisproblem, telephone numbers and email addresses may be withheld but thisgives the disadvantage of isolating the “owner” of the telephone numberor email address.

Senders of communications also experience problems because they areoften unsure about which mode of communication to use at a given timefor a particular destination. In order to determine the most appropriatemethod of access there are many factors to be considered. These includefactors to do with the sender such as what they are trying tocommunicate and factors to do with the receiver such as where theintended recipient is and what they are doing at the time.

Two examples of instant messaging services are now described:

Microsoft Network (MSN) Messenger Service

MSN messenger service is an instant messaging service for use on theInternet. Users are able to identify when others are online and to sendand receive instant messages. By identifying when others are online itis possible to send an instant message to other online individuals or tocommunicate with several other online individuals at once. In this waythe communication and messages are more “real time” than conventionalemail for example, where an email message may simply remain in anindividual's email inbox for some time before it is accessed. Theservice enables a user to identify when another party in an internetconversation is typing at their computer terminal keyboard. That is,using the instant message service it is possible to “talk” to more thanone person at a time in a similar way to an online chat session. Theuser is also able to control which other parties are able to identify or“see” when the user is online and also to control who is able to sendmessages to the user. In this respect the MSN service differs fromconventional online chat programs. Automatic notification of receipt ofmessages is provided. However, instant messages in MSN messenger servicehave a temporary quality. Unless the user deliberately saves thesemessages they are lost when the message service is shut down. Thiscontrasts with conventional email messages in most email systems whichremain until a user actively deletes them. Information about MSNmessenger service is provided on the Internet athttp://messenger.msn.com.

ICQ (“I seek you”)

ICQ is an instant messaging service for internet users. It is a programthat enables users to identify others who are online and which alertsusers when specified individuals log onto the ICQ service. This removesthe need for a directory search to be made each time a user wants tocommunicate with a specific person.

Using ICQ, messages, files and web pages can be sent to other onlineusers of ICQ in real time and ICQ also supports chat, voice, messageboard, data conferencing and internet games. When a new user installsICQ the user is prompted to register at a server which is connected to abroad network of other servers spanning the internet. In theregistration process the user receives a unique ICQ identifier numberand is able to enter personal information. When the registered user logsonto the Internet the ICQ system detects this and allows other ICQ usersto recognise that that user has logged on. The registered user is ableto compile a list of friends and associates (these friends andassociates must also be registered with ICQ or a compatible instantmessaging service) and the ICQ system determines when these individualsare logged onto the internet. Alerting messages are sent to the user toinform him or her when members of the list of friends and associatessign on or off the ICQ system. Users are also able to control whocontacts them and to hide their presence on the internet when this isrequired. Information about ICQ is given on the Internet athttp://www.icq.com.

Some instant messaging services include so called “buddy lists” whichare lists of other users of that instant messaging service which havebeen selected by an individual user as being those of interest. Theindividual user is then informed whether or not the members of the“buddy list” are currently using and available for contact via theinstant messaging service. Such buddy lists are essentially attributesof the owning user and do not have any autonomous status in the instantmessaging system, thus playing only a passive role therein.

Other instant messaging systems such as America On-line's InstantMessenger (trade mark) offer broadly similar capabilities to ICQ.

Known instant messaging systems such as MSN and ICQ do not deal withmultiple access communications networks and are based on the internetonly. This is disadvantageous because the functions of the instantmessaging systems are only available via the internet.

Unified messaging systems are known, such as Nortel Network's ownproduct CALL PILOT (trade mark). This enables fax, email and voice mailmessages to be received via a single “in box” and users are able to setup filters to allow only certain messages to reach them. For example,users are able to listen to textual email messages convertedautomatically into speech using their mobile telephone and are able tofilter out non-urgent messages. However, this is not a presencemanagement system and does not monitor the activity of users on acommunications network.

Products are available which act as communications network based“secretaries” to take a user's calls. For example, WILDFIRE (trade mark)produced by Wildfire communications, Inc and PORTICO (trade mark)produced by General Magic, Inc. The WILDFIRE product uses speechrecognition to help users manager their phone, fax and emailcommunications. This product dials outgoing calls, announces callersusing a voice recording that is played back, records contact details andis able to route incoming calls to any telephone specified by a user.However, this system is not a presence management system because it doesnot obtain and manage information about the activities of users andmonitor their “presence” on the communications network. Also, it is notan instant messaging system and does not enable users who are trying tocontact another user to obtain information about the best mode and timeto do this. Details about the WILDFIRE product are available on theInternet at www.wildfire.com. Details about PORTICO are available on theInternet at www.generalmagic.com. PORTICO is similar to WILDFIRE and islimited in the same respects as PORTICO.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide apresence management system which overcomes or at least mitigates one ormore of the problems noted above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided apresence management system suitable for use in a multiple accesscommunications network, by watching parties and watched parties, saidpresence management system comprising:

-   (i) A first input arranged to receive notification requests from    watching parties in use, each notification request being in respect    of a watched party;-   (i) A second input arranged to receive information about events,    relating to said watched parties, that occur in said multiple access    communications network in use; and-   (ii) A processor arranged such that in use, when information about    an event relating to a particular watched party is received, any    watching parties who made notification requests about that    particular watched party, are notified about the event; and wherein    at least one party is an automated service.

A corresponding computer program, stored on a computer readable medium,is also provided, said computer program being adapted to control apresence management system, said presence management system beingsuitable for use in a multiple access communications network by watchingparties and watched parties, said computer program being arranged tocontrol said presence management system such that:

-   (i) notification requests are received from watching parties in use,    each notification request being in respect of a watched party;-   (ii) information about events that occur in said multiple access    communications network is received, said events relating to said    watched parties; and-   (iii) such that in use, when information about an event relating to    a particular watched party is received, any watching parties who    made notification requests about that particular watched party, are    notified about the event; and wherein at least one party is an    automated service.

A corresponding multiple access communications network is provided,comprising a presence management system, said presence management systembeing for use by watching parties and watched parties, said presencemanagement system comprising:

-   (i) A first input arranged to receive notification requests from    watching parties in use, each notification request being in respect    of a watched party;-   (iii) A second input arranged to receive information about events,    relating to said watched parties, that occur in said multiple access    communications network in use; and-   (iv) A processor arranged such that in use, when information about    an event relating to a particular watched party is received, any    watching parties who made notification requests about that    particular watched party, are notified about the event; and wherein    at least one party is an automated service.

This provides the advantage that a presence management system which isoperable with automated services as watched parties or watching partiesis provided. This enables services, such as conference call services andticket agency services to make use of the presence management system.For example, a conference call service as a watching party, is able touse the presence management system to determine when potentialconferencees are available and to set up a conference call between themat such an available time. Also, by enabling watched parties to beautomated services it is possible to be notified of changes in theavailability of goods or services (provided by the owner of theautomated service) without the intervention of a human operator. Forexample a watching party could make a notification request using thepresence management in order to be notified in changes in availabilityof cinema tickets from an automated ticket sales service.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided amethod of operating a presence management system suitable for use in amultiple access communications network by watched parties and watchingparties, at least one of said parties being an automated service, saidmethod comprising the steps of:

-   (i) receiving notification requests from watching parties in use,    each notification request being in respect of a watched party;-   (ii) Receiving information about events that occur in said multiple    access communications network, said events relating to said watched    parties; and-   (ii) when information about an event relating to a particular    watched party is received, notifying any watching parties who made    notification requests about that particular watched party, about the    event.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided amethod of using an automated service via a presence management system ina multiple access communications network, said presence managementsystem being arranged for use by watching parties and watched parties,and wherein said automated service is a watched party, said methodcomprising the steps of:

-   (i) sending a notification request to the presence management system    from a watching party in respect of said automated service;-   (ii) receiving information about an event relating to said automated    service from the presence management system.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided amethod of using an automated service via a presence management system ina multiple access communications network, said presence managementsystem being for use by watching parties and watched parties, andwherein said automated service is a watching party, said methodcomprising the steps of:

-   (i) sending a notification request to the presence management system    from the automated service in respect of a watched party;-   (ii) receiving information about an event relating to said watched    party from the presence management system.

Further benefits and advantages of the invention will become apparentfrom a consideration of the following detailed description given withreference to the accompanying drawings, which specify and show preferredembodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a presence management system.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the presence management system of FIG.1 with a conference call service as a watching party.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the presence management system of FIG.1 with a ticket agency service as a watched party.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the presence management system of FIG.1 with an aggregate of watching parties and an aggregate of watchedparties.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a presence management system.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram for a computer program for controlling apresence management system.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram for another example of a computer program forcontrolling a presence management system.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating the use of “partiallyinterpreted event triggers”.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention are described below by way ofexample only. These examples represent the best ways of putting theinvention into practice that are currently known to the Applicantalthough they are not the only ways in which this could be achieved.

The term “multiple access communications network” is used to refer to acommunications network which comprises several different types ofcommunications network and which can be accessed using a plurality ofdifferent types of terminal which also comprise part of thecommunications network. The communications network can be accessed by aplurality of such terminals at any one time. For example, a publicswitched telephone network that is connected to a mobile telephonenetwork is a multiple access communications network. This is because theoverall network is made up of two different types of communicationsnetwork and the overall network can be accessed using many differenttypes of terminal such as a conventional telephone handset, a facsimilemachine, a mobile telephone or a modem. A multiple access communicationsnetwork can be thought of as a “federated” network and the componentcommunications networks within a multiple access communications networkcan be connection-less networks (e.g. the Internet) or connectionoriented networks (e.g. public switched telephone networks).

The term “access communications network” is used to refer to acommunications network which is situated on the edge or periphery of acore communications network and through which users gain access to thecore communications network.

The term “presence management system” is used to refer to an automatedsystem for use in a communications network which provides a single pointof presence for a user of that communications network. A point ofpresence is a source of information about whether a user is availablefor contact on a communications network, where that user is located onthe network, and in which mode that user should preferably be contactedin. A presence management system provides a single point of presencedespite the fact that a user has more than one terminal for accessingthe communications network in different modes and possibly by differentaccess communications networks. A presence management system alsoprovides context information rather than just raw presence information.Raw presence information is unprocessed information about theavailability, location and capability of a user on the communicationsnetwork. A presence management system processes raw presence informationaccording to rules or other pre-specified criteria about users in orderto provide context information that is simpler and easier for humanoperators to understand.

FIG. 1 illustrates a presence management system 10 which is connected toa multiple access communications network 11. Also connected to themultiple access communications network 11 are a plurality of watchingparties 12 and a plurality of watched parties 13. In FIG. 1, eachwatching party 12 and each watched party 13 is shown as having a singleconnection to the multiple access communications network 11. However,this is not necessarily the case. For example, a watched party 13 can bean individual who has access to the multiple access communicationsnetwork via a mobile telephone, a lap-top computer and via two differentpersonal computers. Similarly, a watching party may have more than oneconnection to the multiple access communications network.

Each watched party 13 registers with the presence management system 10and is given a unique presence management identifier. During theregistration process each watched party 13 enters personal informationwhich is recorded in a store 14 in the presence management system 10.For example, this information includes the watched party's emailaddress, telephone number, and other contact details. Contextinformation is also included, such as information about whether thewatched party is a home worker or a travelling salesman. Details aboutthe watched party's preferences are also recorded, such as which modesof communication are preferred at which times, for example, emailmessages may be permitted at any time, whilst telephone calls may onlybe preferred during work hours. Some of this information is stored inthe form of rules 15 within the presence management system. Some rulesmay be default rules that are preconfigured and others are entered bywatched parties. However, it is not essential to store this informationin the form of rules 15. Any suitable form for the information may beused.

A first input 16 is provided to the presence management system 10 fromthe multiple access communications network 11. This input 16 is termedan events input and may be provided in the form of an events gateway(described in more detail below). Via this first input 16 informationabout events that occur in the multiple access communications networkare provided to the presence management system 10. In this way eventsthat are associated with the watched parties 13, for example, the eventof a watched party logging onto the Internet, are accessed by thepresence management system 10. Other examples of events include movementof a watched party between cells of a cellular communications network,remote login events, or keyboard presses by a watched party on anInternet terminal.

If a watching party 12 requires to contact a watched party a contactrequest is sent to the presence management system 10 by the watchingparty 12. The contact request reaches the presence management system viaa second input 17 which is termed a connection request input. Theserequests may be received via protocols such as ICQ, IMPP (Instantmessaging and presence protocol(s)), or WAP (Wireless Access Protocol,trade mark). In order to make this request the watching party does notneed to know any of the watched party's direct contact details; thepresence management system identifier for the watched party is used.

A watching party 12 is also able to make a notification request inrespect of a watched party and, optionally, a specific event. In thiscase the watching party 12 is requesting to be notified when aparticular type of event occurs rather than requesting to establishcontact with a watched party. When users enter their preference detailsto the presence management system, these may include notificationpreferences. That is, preferences about when, how and under whatcircumstances notifications should be provided or accepted.

When the presence management system receives a contact request itdetermines whether the required watched party is available for contactand provides information about this to the watching party who made therequest. For example, the presence management system may respond byproviding a particular contact detail for the watched party such as atelephone number. In doing this, the presence management system choosesthe best mode of communication (e.g. cellular phone, email or fax) aftertaking into account the watched parties preferences as explained by therules and identity of the watching party. Alternatively, the presencemanagement system may inform the watching party that the watched partyis unavailable.

The watching party is able to set up a monitor by which the presencemanagement system informs the watching party once the watched partybecomes available. That is, the presence management system is arrangedsuch that when a change of state of a watched party occurs,notifications about that change of state are sent to watching partieswho have lodged an interest in that watched party.

In determining whether the required watched party is available forcontact, the presence management system uses the stored information 14about the watched party, information about the required connection (e.g.size and type) and also the rules 15. In addition, information aboutevents from the multiple access network 11 is used. For example, arequest to send an instant message at 10 pm may be made. If the watchedparty is online but has configured rules 15 such that no instantmessages should be accepted after 9 pm then the presence managementsystem refuses the request. However, the watched party may have setpreferences to allow family members to send instant messages at anytime. In this case, the request could be granted.

The presence management system allows watching parties to send messagesand communications to watched parties even when those watched partiesare not “present” or available on the communications network. Forexample, when a watched party is not logged onto the internet he or shemay allow the presence management system to forward email messages andfaxes. In this respect the presence management system differs from aninstant messaging system.

Services

One or more watched parties 13 may be services and similarly one or morewatching parties 12 may be services. For example, as shown in FIG. 2 awatching party may be a conference call service 20.

The term “service” is used to refer to an automated service which isoperable without human intervention. For example, a computerised cinematicket service. By allowing watching parties or watched parties to besuch services it is possible for users of a presence management systemto be notified of conditions or availability of goods or serviceswithout the intervention of a human operator.

Referring to FIG. 2, the conference call service 20 is able to sendconnection requests to the presence management system in the same waythat any other watching party 12 may, as described above. If theconference call service is required to set up a conference call betweenthree or more watched parties 13, it subscribes with the presencemanagement system 10 in order to be notified when changes in the stateof the required watched parties occur. The presence management system 10will then inform the watching party, which in this case is a conferencecall service 20, when each required watched party 13 becomes available.In this way the conference call service 20 is able to set up aconference call once each required watched party is available.

However, the information about availability from the presence managementsystem is effectively “real time” so that if a change in state of awatched party occurs just after the conference call is attempted, thenthat party may not join the conference call. In one example, theconference call service may advantageously form the required watchedparties into a group or aggregate as described in more detail below.Then, once notifications of availability are given for a certain numberof group members, or a quorum of group members, the conference call isattempted.

The watched parties 13 may record preferences and rules about servicessuch as conference call services 20 and these will be taken into accountby the presence management system 10 when it responds to requests from aconference call service 20. Similarly, for other services that arewatching parties 12, watched party preferences, information and rulesare taken into account.

It is also possible for a watched party to be a service. For example,FIG. 3 illustrates a ticket agency service 30 which is a watched party.As for any other watched party 13, a watched party that is a service isable to store information 14, and rules 15 in the presence managementsystem 10 and to register with the system 10. Watching parties may sendconnect or notification requests to the presence management system 10 inrespect of the ticket agency service. The notification requests containadditional information as well a simple request to be notified of achange of state in the ticket agency service. For example, thenotification request could be a request to be notified about aparticular type of concert ticket. Many such notification requests bydifferent watching parties 12 may be made of the presence managementsystem 10. Then, once tickets for the particular concert becomeavailable, the ticket agency service 30 provides information about thisto the presence management system. This information is provided to thepresence management system by virtue of an agreement between the ticketagency service provider and the presence management system provider. Assuch the event of the tickets becoming available is an example of a“partially interpreted event trigger” as described in more detail below.The presence management system is then able to send notifications toeach of the interested watching parties to inform them that the ticketsare available.

Other examples of services that may be watched parties include newsservices, sports scoring services, and share dealing services. Anysuitable type of service such as those where members or subscribersrequire to be informed of changes may be a watched party.

Other examples of services that may be watching parties include securityservices and fraud detection services. Another example is a servicewhich informs a user of the nearest available car parking. This coulduse information about geographical location of watched parties from thepresence management system. Any suitable type of service such as thosewhere it is required to gain information about activities andcommunication states of watched parties may be a watching party. Otherexamples include sales contact services which initiate contacts whenwatched parties are available and expected to be most receptive.

Aggregates

It is also possible for a watched party to be an aggregate or group ofwatched parties. Similarly a watching party may be an aggregate ofwatching parties. For example, FIG. 4 shows a situation with anaggregate of watched parties 40 and an aggregate of watching parties 41.A group of watched parties may advantageously be formed for manyreasons. For example, several watched parties with a common interestsuch as friends may form an aggregate in order that watching parties canmonitor the presence of the group of friends as a whole. This could beuseful to arrange meetings between the members of the group of friends.In another example, an association of building contractors in a certaingeographical region might form an aggregate of watched parties in orderthat they might be easily contactable as a group rather thanindividually. A further example involves a sales department which haveseveral operators taking calls (which may be telephone calls, emailmessages or any other suitable type of call). An aggregate of operatorsis formed in order that watching parties who request a contact with theaggregate are allocated to the first available operator with therelevant communication means. In another example, a workflow applicationrequires a purchase requisition to be signed by two out of a group offive authorised signatories. By using an aggregate for the authorisedsignatories the request for approval is directed to the most appropriatepair of signatories taking into account factors such as presence of thesignatories in the office and current activity of the signatories. Thereare also many similar reasons why a group of watching parties may beformed.

Aggregates differ from “Buddy lists” in several respects. (Buddy listsare described in the Prior Art section above.) Aggregates have anautonomous status from the “point of view” of the presence managementsystem 10 and are able to take actions on their own behalf whereas thisis not the case for Buddy Lists. By creating aggregates which have anautonomous status it is possible to enable aggregates to be used in anyways in which watched parties or watching parties can be used. However,Buddy lists are only used for a limited function which is pre-specified.

In order to control membership and existence of an aggregate eachaggregate may be allocated an owner. This owner may be a member of theaggregate but this is not essential and only the owner is able to modifyor destroy the aggregate. In this way membership and existence of theaggregate are controlled. However, other control mechanisms can also beused which do not involve an owner who is a watching party or a watchedparty. For example, a rule base within the presence management systemcould perform this function.

Aggregates may be formed by individual watching parties or watchedparties contacting others and forming a group. Alternatively, aggregatesmay be formed dynamically by an application or service, for example, fora specific task. In the case of the conference call service discussedabove, this service could form an aggregate of all the watched parties(or conferencees) who are required members of the conference call. Theconference call service monitors the status of the aggregate until say,80% of the aggregate members are available for a conference call. Theconference call is then set up, starting with the owner of the aggregate(for example). Once the call is set-up the aggregate is either destroyedor persists until the call is finished so that late corners can bejoined to the ongoing call.

An aggregate is able to interact with the presence management system 10in the same way as either a watched party 13 or a watching party 12 asdescribed above except that a “quorum” condition is used. For example,when a watched party is an aggregate, when should the presencemanagement system indicate to watching parties that there has been achange of state in the aggregate? Should this be when 50% of the membersof the aggregate have changed state or only when all members havechanged state? This issue is addressed by setting a threshold level or“quorum” condition as to the number of aggregate members required tochange state before the aggregate as a whole is deemed to have changedstate. Similarly, when a watching party is an aggregate, a “quorum”condition may be used to determine factors to do with the requests madeby the watching party. For example, when should a request be made andwhat should the request be? A watched party or a watching party may be amember of more than one aggregate.

Anonymity

In another example, the presence management system 10 is arranged toprovide a connection address for the watched party. This connectionaddress may either be a direct address for that watched party or anindirect or forwarding address. This enables the anonymity of watchedparties to be managed in particular situations. For example, the addressmay be given to the watching party or alternatively may be used by thepresence management system 10 to forward a connection request from thewatching party to the watched party. In this latter case, the watchingparty does not find out what the connection address for the watchedparty is.

This gives four possibilities. The presence management system 10 canprovide a direct connection address to the watching party. For example,this may be desired for family members and others that are specified bythe watched party. In the second case, the presence management system 10can provide an indirect connection address to the watched party. In thissituation, the watched party sends communications to a forwardingaddress such as a P.O. Box or similar entity and that entity forwardsthe communications to the watched party. This means that the watchingparty does not gain access to the watched party's direct connectionaddress. In a third case, the presence management system 10 itselfforwards communications from the watching party direct to the watchedparty. Again, in this case, the watching party does not gain access tothe watched party's direct connection address. Finally, in the fourthcase, the presence management system 10 forwards communications from thewatching party to a forwarding address such as a P.O. Box or similarentity. Again the watching party does not gain access to the watchedparty's direct connection address but also, the presence managementsystem 10 itself does not “know” this direct address.

The watched party is able to store criteria 14 and rules 15 in thepresence management system 10 which are used to determine the manner andtype of connection address that is provided.

In one example, the presence management system provides an indirectconnection address to the watching party that is only operable for alimited number of operations. This provides the advantage that thewatched party is able to receive calls from, say, sales people, but isable to limit the number of times that the sales person is able to makecontact. In this way, the watched party is able to control the degree ofinteraction with particular watched parties. Similarly, the presencemanagement system can be arranged to forward connection requests from awatching party only for a certain limited period of time. It is alsopossible to use a combination of these two situations, by providing anindirect connection address to the watching party that is only operablefor a limited number of operations within a limited time period. Forexample, a connection address for use up to four times within one weekcould be issued.

In another example, the presence management system provides an indirectconnection address to the watching party that is valid only for alimited number of calls or connection attempts. Further criteria can beused, such as limiting validity to a certain number of successful callsor by terminating validity if an unsuccessful call attempt is made.Also, the presence management system can be arranged to forwardconnection requests from a watching party only for a certain limitednumber of calls or connection attempts.

Partially Interpreted Event Triggers

The capabilities of the presence management system 10 are extended byusing so called “partially interpreted event triggers”. These comprisenon-communication related events that are provided from a third partyservice and which occur outside the multiple access communicationsnetwork. Information about these events is provided to the presencemanagement system 10 via the events input or gateway 16.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating the use of partiallyinterpreted event triggers. A third party service 902 such as a hotelregistration system or an airline check-in system is provided and theoperator of this system 902 enters into a business relationship 905 withthe provider of a presence management system 900. A watched party 903subscribes to the presence management system 900 in the manner describedabove in order to benefit from the presence management system service.When this watched party 903 checks into a hotel using the hotelregistration service 902, then by virtue of the prior agreement 905between the hotel registration service 902 and the presence managementsystem 900, information about the check-in event is provided to thepresence management system 900. The check-in event is referred to as a“partially interpreted event trigger” and is provided to the presencemanagement system 900 via an event gateway 904 in a multiple accesscommunications network (not shown).

When the watched party 903 subscribes to the presence management system900, the watched party 903 is able to specify whether check-in eventsfrom the third party hotel registration (or other) service should bemade available to the presence management system. Alternatively, thewatched party, on using the external service 902, is able to specifywhether or not partially interpreted event triggers from that service902 should be supplied to the presence management system.

The external service 902 itself may involve human input andnon-automated aspects, however, the part of the external service 902which provides the partially interpreted event triggers to the eventgateway 904 is automated.

Partially interpreted event trigger information is extremely usefulbecause it is up-to-date and accurate. Responses to watching partyrequests are then improved as a result of using the partiallyinterpreted event trigger information. The use of partially interpretedevent triggers in this way adds to the richness and precision of theinformation provided by the presence management system 10. The presencemanagement system effectively models the presence of watched partieswith respect to the multiple access communications network and thepartially interpreted event trigger information.

One problem is that if the presence management system gives incorrectresponses to watching parties, the consequences are often severe. Forexample, if a business contract fails because of failed communicationbetween the parties then a user's trust in the presence managementsystem is quickly damaged. This typically leads users to stop using thepresence management system. Because of this care is taken to reduceerrors and incorrect responses and use of partially interpreted eventtriggers is one way in which this is achieved. Without partiallyinterpreted event triggers, the information provided by a presencemanagement system 10 must be conservative in its specifications in orderto avoid rejection of the presence management system by users.

Examples of external services which may provide partially interpretedevent triggers include: security badge swipe systems, hotel registrationsystems, airline check-in systems and calling card systems. The term“partially interpreted” is used to refer to the fact that moreinformation is available from partially interpreted events than justgeographical location information. That is, context information isgained, associated with different types of events. For example, anairline check-in event at a particular airport generally means not onlythat the user is geographically at the location of the airport but alsothat the user is about to board a plane (for example). This contextinformation is gained quickly, without the need for the presencemanagement system 10 to determine that the geographical location is inthe airport (for example, from the user's mobile telephone location) andthen infer that in the context of an airport, the likely outcome is thatthe user is going to board a plane. The check-in information providesthis information quickly and accurately. For example, the presencemanagement system, without the partially interpreted event trigger, mayhave inferred wrongly that the user was going to board a plane, when infact they were visiting the airport to collect someone.

More details about the presence management system are now described. Thewatching parties are also referred to as “watchers” and the watchedparties as “individuals” or “entities” or “clients”. Several definitionsare now given:

Presence: a quality exhibited by an entity within a network. It consistsof location, availability and capability.

Location: some form of spatial co-ordinates for an entity. These may begeographical or more abstract e.g., in terms of network topology. Alocation may correspond to some addresses.

Availability: the ability of an entity to communicate at given time. Inaddition to “on-line”/“off-line” status, availability can represent anentity's willingness to engage in communication.

Capability: a measure of forms and capacity of communication an entitycan engage in, e.g. due to constraints imposed by the available devices.

Entity: the subject of presence information. An entity may be a personor a service. Also referred to as a watched party or an individual.

Group: a set of entities that is also itself an entity. That is, a grouphas an exposed presence and may be the subject of a subscription.

Watcher: the target for presence information. A watcher may be a personor a service. A person (or service) may be both an entity and a watcher.Note that different watchers may perceive a different presence for thesame entity.

Subscribe: an action of a watcher when it registers an interest in thepresence of an entity.

Notify: an action directed at a watcher relating to a change in presenceof an entity that was previously the subject of a subscribe.

Presence indicator: an event external to the presence system that ispertinent to an entity's presence

Raw presence: an unprocessed collection of presence indicators (whichmay be related to a single entity).

Context Presence: an abstract state derived from an entity's rawpresence according to rules defined for that entity. Not every newpresence indicator results in a change to the context presence.

Exposed presence: a view of an entity's (context) presence that isexposed to a watcher. It is derived according to rules defined for thatentity. Note that an entity may exhibit a different exposed presence todifferent audiences.

Audience: a class of potential watchers defined by, or in relation to,an entity. An actual watcher may be part of several audiences for agiven entity.

Partial subscribe: a subscribe action that registers interest in part ofthe presence of an entity. Changes to other parts of that entity'spresence will not lead to a notification. Note that, although an entitycan be composed of other entities (see Group) it may also havecomponents that are not themselves entities but can still be discussedin terms of their presence.Micro-subscribe: a subscribe action that is qualified by the watcher tofacilitate differentiation by an entity's rules between subscriptions bythe same watcher. That is, two different views of presence could beexposed to a watcher, regarding the same entity, related to separatemicro-subscriptions.Communication: an interaction involving more than one participant inwhich information is transferred. A communication is characterised bythe pattern of the interaction and by the media of the informationtransfer.Interaction pattern: a message interaction, a conversational interactionor a stream interaction, (in the context of this architecture).Message interaction: an instant message, a deferred message or anacknowledged message.Instant message: a message that is delivered to the other participant(s)without explicit action on their part.Deferred message: a message that is delivered to the otherparticipant(s) only after explicit action on their part, e.g. e-mail andvoice-mail.Acknowledge message: a message that a sender expects to receive from therecipient.Sender: the initiator of a message interaction.Conversational interaction: an (interleaved) exchange of messages, e.g.an internet chat session.Stream interaction: an interaction involving one or more continuous dataflows between the participants. Separate flows may go in oppositedirection between participants. There may be several distinct flowsbetween the same participants in the same direction. A streaminteraction can be classified as simplex, half-duplex or (full) duplex.Note that a 2-way voice call is a stream interaction at the terminallevel. The conversational pattern is only imposed in the minds of the(human) participants.Caller: the initiator of a conversational interaction or a streaminteraction.Media: a form of representation used for transferring information.Possible media are, files (various), text, audio (including speech), faxand video.Mediation: the action of transforming one kind of communication intoanother. This may entail a media transformation and/or an interactionpattern transformation.Mediated communication: a communication that includes a mediationaction.Proxy communication: a communication in which there is an intermediarybetween the participants.Third-party communication: a communication that is initiated by anon-participant.Service discovery: the process by which something becomes aware of theexistence of a relevant service.Service description: a representation of what a service does in a formthat is understood by the service provider and by the user of theservice.Service: an entity, e.g. an autonomous software component that canparticipate in a communication.

FIG. 5 shows the presence management system 10 of FIG. 1 in more detail.Here, a plurality of watchers 12 and a plurality of watched parties 13have access to the presence management system 10 via a multiple accesscommunications network 11. In this example the multiple accesscommunications network comprises an Internet Protocol communicationsnetwork 50, a wireless communications network 51, and a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN) 52. However, this is not essential, differenttypes and combinations of communications networks could be used to formthe multiple access communications network.

Inputs from the multiple access communications network 11 to thepresence management system 10 are provided in the form of event gateways53. Also, connection requests, from watchers 12 to the presencemanagement system are accepted via connection request inputs which, forexample, may be provided using the IMPP protocol 60, WAP protocol 61 orICQ protocol 59. Event gateways 53 and are described in more detailbelow. In the case that the presence management system 10 is used toestablish connections between watching parties and watched parties, thena connection from the presence management system to the multiple accesscommunications network 11 is provided in the form of connect gateways54.

Watched party information 14 and rules 15 are stored in the presencemanagement system 10. When a watched party 13 registers to use thepresence management system 10 a profile of that watched party 13 isbuilt up and stored in the presence management system. A profilemanagement system 56 within the presence management system is providedto manage these profiles.

For example, an entity's profile contains the following items which maybe entered by the entity or watched party or may be default informationthat is prespecified:

-   -   Contact addresses for that entity on each of a number of access        communications networks or component parts of an access        communications network.    -   A set of the possible context presence values for the entity,        e.g. “at-home”, “at-work”, “travelling”, “not-able-to-contact”        or “unknown”. For many of these the system also holds        attributes, e.g. geographical location.    -   Minor changes to the default rules for moving from one context        presence to another.    -   The entity's own view of what potential audiences its exposed        presence has, e.g. family, friends, colleagues. Members of each        potential audience see a different projection of the entity's        presence. In application to enterprises, the administrator is        able to provide audience definitions common to many entities        (cf. E-mail distribution lists).    -   A watcher authentication level for each audience to allow the        entity to have safeguards that a watcher really does belong to        an audience.    -   For some sorts of communication (e.g. instant messages informing        of new E-mail) the entity may wish to exercise fine-grained        control and insist on the watcher making a micro-subscription.        The attributes of such a subscription can also be subject to an        entity's rules (cf. E-mail filters)

When an entity is first registered with a presence management systemserver 10 there is a substantial amount of data capture required. Inorder that the work-load of the entity is reduced reliance is put ondefault information and a type of “wizard” is used to help the userenter the required information quickly and easily. Later, the data canbe subsequently modified by the watched party or entity. These functionsare carried out by the profile management system 56.

For example, in the case of an entity representing a human user theinteraction provided by the “wizard” data capture process can be asfollows:

-   -   The user chooses from a number of life-styles, “office-worker”,        “travelling-salesman” or “executive” Each life-style being        represented by a template with default values.    -   Each choice leads to a dialog tailored for that choice. For        example, to establish the geographical location of the home and        of the office. Additional locations are created if appropriate.    -   In one embodiment, the presence management system is able to        detect and capture details about the devices that the entity        uses for communicating.    -   Definitions of potential audiences for the user's presence        (family, friends etc.)    -   Finally, the user will decide which contact information is        notified to members of which audiences for what changes in        context presence.        Some parts of the configuration are complicated and these are        initially masked from the user until they press the “advanced        options” button.

The presence management system also contains a raw presence manager 55which manages an unprocessed collection of presence indicators. The rawpresence manager 55 orders the presence indicators into a table or otherstructure which is indexed by entity. In this way each presenceindicated is accessible on the basis of the entity to which it relates.Large volumes of presence indicators can be stored by the raw presencemanager 55. However, by their very nature, presence indicators becomeredundant once more recent presence indicators about a given entitybecome available and a process for updating presence indicators orgiving weights to these indicators on the basis of age is provided.

The multiple access communications network 11 is made up of one or morecommunications networks, such as a public switched telephone network 52and a wireless communications network 51. An event gateway, specific tothe type of communications network, is provided for each communicationsnetwork or each technology, such as mobile telephones and copper wiretelephones. Note that the Internet is logically a federation of severalaccess networks and a core data network using a common Internet Protocol(IP) substrate.

Event gateways receive raw data from the access networks, pre-processthis and pass it onto the raw presence manager via one or more eventinputs 16. Examples of these events are keyboard activity on a terminal,movement between cells in a cellular communications network and changeof VLR (visitor Location Register) and off-hook events in a PSTN. Otherevents include use of the “last offered incoming call” service on apublic switched telephone network, details from calendar services andthe opening of a Palm Pilot 7 (trade mark) lid. Event gateways producean authenticated, time ordered series of location data events that havebeen filtered and homogenised. That is, only information about usersbeing tracked by this presence system is passed to the raw presencemanager. This is achieved by using a filter in the event gateway or inthe events input 16. Also, events are presented to the raw presencemanager in a technology neutral format (all the idiosyncrasies ofdifferent access network technology are hidden by the event gateway asfar as possible).

An event gateway is divided into two parts. A first part interfaces withthe presence management system 10 whilst a second part interfaces withthe access network. The two parts of the event gateway communicate usinga protocol over an interface. Different types of event gateway areprovided according to the type of access network used.

As described above a subscription is made when a watcher registers aninterest in the presence of an entity. A subscription manager 57 isprovided within the presence management system 10 in order to manage thesubscription process.

Users or services (watching parties) outside of the presence managementsystem may subscribe to presence information about particular clients(watched parties) of the presence system. If the presence managementsystem comprises multiple servers this request is routed to the homeserver for the client (watched party) in question. The subscriptionrequest is made over one of a number of protocols: IMPP, WAP or possiblyICQ. In each case the subscription request contains a return address fornotifications (e.g. an IMPPP address), some identification informationfor the subscriber or watching party (so that the presence client'spropagation restrictions can be obeyed) and the identity of the presenceclient about whom presence information is sought.

In one example, the lifetime of a subscription is controlled by thesubscriber, i.e. the subscriber (watching party) declares when itsinterest in a given presence client is over. However, if the watchingparty does not take this action to declare the end of its interest thenold subscriptions eventually become garbage. In one case, subscriptionsare held persistently (for fault recovery) and this creates an issue ofgarbage collection. For example, all subscriptions that are inactive forone hour may be deleted.

In the case of Instant Message notification of an awaiting e-mail, forexample, the decision on whether the client is “on-line” to a particulare-mail notification may be a function of the sender, the size andpossibly of keywords within the subject of the e-mail. Rather than thesubscriber presenting this, second order, information at the point ofsending the Instant Message, the initial subscription may capture allthe information upon which the reachability decision is made. What mighthave been a single subscription by an e-mail notification serviceregarding a single client may then be replaced by a set of fine-grainedsubscriptions each regarding that client's willingness to receive acertain e-mail notification.

In this case, IMPP is extended to carry additional parameters. This maybe in the form of an XML string. For example, in the case of an e-mailnotification service, the IMPP subscribe also contains<subscription-detail type=“IM” reftype=“e-mail” from=“fred”>. Onepossibility is that the presence system responds to such a subscriptionby asking for further information. e.g., if the rules asserted by theclient cover the “to” field of the e-mail (i.e. who else has/willreceive it) then the response is to refuse the subscription giving anappropriate reason.

The presence management system 10 also comprises an exposed presencemanager 58 as illustrated in FIG. 5. As described above “exposedpresence” is a view of an entity's presence that is exposed to awatcher. It is derived according to rules defined for that entity and inthis way, an entity exhibits different exposed presences to differentaudiences. The function of the exposed presence manager 58 is to“decide” what information to make available to watching parties on thebasis of rules 15 and other criteria set by watched parties or definedas defaults.

In the case that there is a change in the information available, forexample, because new information arrives via an event gateway 53, thenthe exposed presence manager 58 is triggered. The exposed presencemanager then checks for active subscriptions to the watched party inrespect of whom the new information has arrived. If some activesubscriptions are present, the exposed presence manager 58 consults therules 15 and determines what (if any) information to make available tothe watching parties who have active subscriptions.

The presence management system 10 may also have an interface 59 to ICQand/or IMPP 60 or WAP 61 protocol outputs. Information that is madeavailable to watching parties who have active subscriptions can be madevia this interface 59 or these outputs.

The presence management system also comprises a connection manager 59 insome examples. In the cases that the presence management system itselfforwards communication requests direct to watched parties, theconnection manager 59 provides this forwarding facility using connectgateways 54. At least one connect gateway 54 is provided for each typeof access network. Part of the function of the connection manager 59 isto “decide” which connect gateway 54 should be used for a particularcommunication request and to manage changes between connect gateways 54according to the communication requirements. As well as this theconnection manager determines which access media is used for a giveninteraction in the event that more than one access medium is availableand suitable.

In one embodiment the connection manager 59 comprises a mediationcomponent 62. This enables messages in one format e.g. voice to bechanged into another format e.g. email, in order to provide flexibilityfor watched parties and watching parties. The mediation component 62uses rules to decide whether and how best to change the format of agiven message.

The presence management system also comprises a raw presence manager 55.The raw presence manager 55 obtains and stores information from theevent gateways 53 and processes this information to form a “contextpresence” for each watched party. A plurality of default contexts aredefined such as “at home”, “at work desk”, “travelling” and informationreceived from the event gateways 53 together with other watched partyinformation is used to determine which context applies for a givenwatched party at a particular time. Rules are used to aid thisdetermination process. For example, rules for mapping locationindicators onto presence contexts are pre-defined. Watched parties arealso able to enter their own rules and presence contexts for use by theraw presence manager 55.

The rules used by the raw presence manager 55 and the exposed presencemanager 58 are always locally resolvable. Many of the other componentsof the presence management system use rules. These may be stored in onerule base or alternatively stored in conjunction with the particularcomponents of the presence management system. For example, theconnection manager 59 uses rules to decide which of several possibleconnection options to prefer.

The interface between the raw presence manager 55 and the exposedpresence manager 58 may be distributed. The two managers 55, 58 havedifferent requirements. The raw presence manager 55 makes only localupdates to a data store 14 based on its input data. It exhibits a lowlatency so that location data from event gateways 53 need not be backedup persistently. That is, once processed by the raw presence manager 55any significant changes are held in the data store 14.

The exposed presence manager 58 has to engage in a number of externalinteractions, over a variety of protocols to propagate presenceinformation to subscribers. It is either triggered directly from thedata store 14, as a reflex to the updates made by the raw presencemanager 55 or there is a direct interface between the two.

In one embodiment a computer program stored on a computer readablemedium is provided. FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of the method implementedby the computer program. This computer program is adapted to control apresence management system such that connections are managed betweenwatching parties and watched parties. This presence management system issuitable for use in a multiple access communications network, and saidcomputer program is arranged to control said presence management systemsuch that:

-   (i) a store of watched party information is created (box 701 of FIG.    6);-   (ii) a set of rules about connection criteria are formed (box 702 of    FIG. 6);-   (iii) information about events that occur in said multiple access    communications network is received in use via an input (box 703 of    FIG. 6); and-   (iv) connection requests are received from watchers in use; and on    receipt of a request from a watching party for a connection with a    watched party, information about whether that watched party    currently permits connections to be established with it is provided,    said information being determined on the basis of said store, said    rules and said input information about events; and wherein at least    one party is a service (box 704 of FIG. 6).

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of another example of such a method implementedby a computer program. In this case, watched parties first register 801with a presence management system and input information 802 which isused to form rules. This information is about the watched party'scommunication criteria and preferences, such as what types of terminalhe or she uses and which modes of communication are preferred atdifferent times of the day.

The presence management system may then receive a number of differenttypes of input. For example, a subscription 803 from a watching partymay be received, in which case the subscription details are recorded809. For example, this could be a request by a watching party to beinformed about any change of state in a watched party.

The presence management system may also receive an incoming event 804.In this case, the method involves checking 805 all the currentsubscriptions to see if the incoming event is relevant to any of these.If so, notifications are sent out 806 to the watching parties who madethe relevant subscriptions. The record of the subscriptions is thenupdated 805. For example, a subscription may be arranged to be activatedonly once and then deleted.

The presence management system may also receive an incoming connectionrequest 807 from a watching party. In this case the presence managementsystem checks the availability of the watched party and if appropriateestablishes a connection or forwards the connection request to thewatched party 808.

In one example, a presence management system comprises: a first inputarranged to receive requests from watching parties in use, each of whichmay be of one of three types: (a) a notification request being inrespect of a watched party and, optionally, a specific event, (b) acontact request in respect of a watched party, or (c) a fetch request inrespect of a watched party. The presence management system also has asecond input arranged to receive information about events, relating tosaid watched parties, that occur in said multiple access communicationsnetwork in use. As well as this a third input is provided, arranged toreceive and store information entered by a watched party. Thisinformation relates to the said watched party and is used to transformthe incoming events and control watching parties in respect of theinformation that they may receive about the watched party. Theinformation is stored so that it can be associated with the watchedparty to which it relates. The presence management system has aprocessor arranged such that in use, when information about an eventrelating to a particular watched party is received, the information istransformed in accordance with the information previously received fromthe watched party. When information about an event relating to aparticular watched party is received, any watching parties who madenotification requests about that particular watched party are notified.This is done provided that the stored information does not forbid orrestrict the transmission of a notification at that time. For example,the watching party may have specified that he or she should not beinterrupted between 9 am and 10 am. If a contact request is received,contact is only established by the presence management system if therequired terminals are available and if the user preferences of bothparties allow contact to be established. If a fetch request is received,part or all of the information relating to a watched party istransmitted to the watching party, according to user preferences andcriteria set by the watched party. In this way a watching party canquickly and easily obtain all available information about a watchedparty.

A range of applications are within the scope of the present invention.These include any presence management systems in which watched partiesor watching parties may be services. The invention also encompasses acomputer program for controlling such a presence management system and amultiple access communications network which comprises such a presencemanagement system.

1. A multiple access communications network comprising a presencemanagement system, a watching party and a watched party, said presencemanagement system being for use by the watching party and watched partyin said network, the watched party having a watched party identifier andbeing an automated service configured to determine the availability ofgoods or services and to transmit to the presence management system,automatically without human intervention, information indicating achange in the availability of the goods or services, the informationindicating the change in the availability of the goods or services beingtransmitted in response to the change in the availability of the goodsor services, the watching party having a watching party identifier andincluding an output to transmit a notification request to the presencemanagement system, the notification request including a watched partyidentifier and a request to receive information indicating a change inthe availability of goods or services, and an input to receive theinformation indicating the change in the availability of the goods orservices from the presence management system, said presence managementsystem comprising: (i) a first input to receive notification requestsfrom the watching party, (ii) a second input to operate continuously toreceive, in real time, information indicating a change in theavailability of the goods or services from said watched party; (iii) aprocessor arranged to notify said watching party of informationindicating the change in the availability of the goods or services wheninformation indicative of a change in the availability of the goods orservices is received at said second input; and (iv) a store of profileinformation, the profile information including the watched partyidentifier and the watching party identifier and connection criteria foreach watched party, said connection criteria being dependent on a stateof said watched party and including information relating to the type ofconnection that the watched party would accept; (v) an output to sendthe information indicating the change in the availability of the goodsor services to the watching party; and said processor being furtherarranged to determine whether to connect said watching party to saidwatched party and how to connect said watching party to said watchedparty on the basis of connection criteria for said watched party andinformation indicative of said state of said watched party.
 2. Themultiple access communications network as claimed in claim 1 whichfurther comprises a store of information about notification criteria foreach watching party; and wherein said processor is arranged to notifysaid watching party of a change in state of said watched party on thebasis of said notification criteria.
 3. The multiple accesscommunications network as claimed in claim 1 wherein said watching partyis a conference call service.
 4. The multiple access communicationsnetwork as claimed in claim 1 wherein said watched party is a ticketagency service.
 5. The multiple access communications network as claimedin claim 1 wherein said watched party is a hotel registration service.6. The multiple access communications network as claimed in claim 1wherein said watched party is an airline check-in service.
 7. Themultiple access communications network as claimed in claim 1 whereinsaid presence management system is further arranged to provideinformation about the geographical location of said watched party inuse, on the basis of said received information about events that occurin said multiple access communications network.
 8. The multiple accesscommunications network as claimed in claim 1 wherein said presencemanagement system is further arranged to provide information about thecurrent activity of said watched party, on the basis of said receivedinformation about events that occur in said multiple accesscommunications network.
 9. The multiple access communications network asclaimed in claim 1 wherein said presence management system is arrangedto provide information about types of connection that a watched party isable to receive.
 10. The multiple access communications network asclaimed in claim 1 wherein at least one of said parties comprises aplurality of individuals.
 11. The multiple access communications networkas claimed in claim 1 that is arranged to provide a connection addressfor said watched party if said processor determines that said watchingparty should be connected to said watched party on the basis ofconnection criteria for said watched party.
 12. The multiple accesscommunications network as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least some ofsaid events are non-communication related events which occur outsidesaid multiple access communications network.
 13. The multiple accesscommunications network as claimed in claim 2 wherein said store ofinformation about notification criteria comprises watched partynotification preferences.
 14. The multiple access communications networkas claimed in claim 11 wherein said connection address is only operablefor a predetermined time.
 15. The multiple access communications networkas claimed in claim 11 wherein said connection address is only operablefor a predetermined number of connection attempts.
 16. The multipleaccess communications network as claimed in claim 11 which is furtherarranged such that the request from said watching party is forwarded tothe connection address provided, in such a way that the watching partyhas no access to said connection address.
 17. A method of using anactive automated service via a presence management system the methodbeing implemented in a multiple access communications network includingsaid presence management system a watched party and a watching party,said presence management system including a store of profileinformation, the profile information including the watched partyidentifier and the watching party identifier and being for use by thewatching party and the watched party, said watched party being theactive automated service configured to determine the availability ofgoods or services, and wherein said method comprises the steps of: (i)sending a notification request to the presence management system from awatching party in respect of said automated service, the notificationrequest including a watched party identifier and a request to receiveinformation indicating a change in the availability of goods orservices; (ii) the watched party transmitting information indicating achange in the availability of the goods or services to the presencemanagement system, automatically without human intervention, theinformation indicating the change in the availability of the goods orservices being transmitted in response to the change in the availabilityof the goods or services; (iv) the presence management system receivingthe information indicating the change in the availability of the goodsor services from said watched party; (iv) the presence management systemnotifying said watching party of the change in the availability of thegoods or services when the information indicating the change in theavailability of the goods or services is received from said watchedparty.